First Coverage Inc., which provides the fastest-growing alpha capture platform worldwide and in North American equity trading content, released its 2009 Top Performer Rankings, which recognize the best equity market institutional sales people and sell-side firms in the world.
Robert W. Baird & Co., an employee-owned, international financial services firm with offices in the United States, Europe and Asia, ranked No. 1, outperforming more than 300 firms on the First Coverage platform. Stuart Desmond, an Institutional Investment Officer in Bairds Milwaukee headquarters, earned the top ranking in the individual salesperson category with an average return of 47.19 percent on all ideas sent to his clients through the First Coverage platform.
In a year wrought with turbulence, ambiguity and a feeling by many industry experts that the market had gone too far, too fast, a handful of tenacious top performers on our alpha-capture platform refused to surrender and turned in market-beating returns, says Roland Beaulieu, CEO and president of First Coverage. Were delighted to recognize Stu Desmond and Baird with 2009 Top Performer Awards, and we are equally excited for the portfolio managers who benefited from the ideas submitted via First Coverage by all of our top ranked sell-side firms in 2009.
First Coverage rankings are derived from more than 100,000 actionable sell-side trade ideas communicated by thousands of sales people at hundreds of firms worldwide that participated on the system in 2009 and represent a completely objective evaluation of the sell-side.
Being recognized as a top ranked firm on the First Coverage platform speaks volumes about our ability to put clients interests first and provide sound recommendations, particularly during challenging market conditions. We are honored to accept this award, says William Mahler, co-head of equity capital markets and director of institutional equity services, at Baird.
First Coverages industry leading platform is a web-based solution that simplifies the way that buy-side investment professionals capture, organize and evaluate all types of information coming from their sell-side coverage. The technology allows portfolio managers to easily find and focus on the institutional sales people and information most likely to add value to their investment process.
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